I think it's quite easy to unlock both of the phones, it shouldn't cost you much money (in the region of £10-15). If you search google there are plenty of places that will do it remotely for you.

However, I always try and unlock phones myself first and have only had one I had to pay for. Look at this discussion for what appears to be instructions on unlocking an LG chocolate for free (I can't test it I don't have one, sorry).

After looking at the LG Shine, it seems you need a clip/dongle to unlock it yourself and they are quite expensive. If you were to go for the shine, I would suggest you go a shop in your area that offers phone unlocking.

Original Poster

27th Dec 2008

thanks mate

i did already have a look on that website you posted, but it appears that some people can unlock via that method but the majority still have problems

the phone works out at £24.97 + £10 orange or voda top up.....

or is £34.95 + £10 virgin top up..........

if what you say is correct do you think im just better of paying the extra £10 anyway as i might have to do this later?

the LG SHINE is £48 + £10 top up but if it needs to be unlocked via a shop i could be looking at £75+

not sure what to do now lol

thanks for the help though..

27th Dec 2008

Do you mind me asking where your getting the LG Chocolate for £24.97? I really need a new phone and like the look of them. If you are a virgin user, then you'll get the benefit of the £10 top-up aswell so you have to take that into consideration.

If you are buying from Carphone Warehouse all their phones are already unlocked? I thought someone told me that before, but I'm not sure. Personally, I'm not so keen on the LG Shine, I just don't like the mirrored finish on it.

Original Poster

27th Dec 2008

i am getting it from carephone warehouse mate!

i dont think it can already be unlocked becuase the price is different depending on what network you want...

orange + voda =£24.97 + £10 top up

virgin= £24.97 + £10 top up

thing is im on contract so i dont need the £10 top up really.....

if the phone is unlocked as you say then i could just get the cheaper orange or voda option

the shine has a better camera and i would have thought becuase its newer it would be better and have less problems?! (probably way off the mark with that analysis though lol)

LG CHOCOLATE is still a great looking phone i think

27th Dec 2008

yeah I see your problem, I would be buying it on vodafone so it's not so much a problem for me. As far as I am aware, from research it seems a lot of Carphone Warehouse phones are unlocked (all the phones I've had from them have been unlocked - all bought on O2). But you can't guarantee it will be and people have said online that most Orange and Virgin ones are likely to be locked. It's a bit of a lottery I'm afraid.

Original Poster

27th Dec 2008

yea it is mate!

there are threads about unlocking it but im not sure if its gauranteed

suposed i could buy it for cheap on orange or voda and if it works great if not pay £10-£15 to have it done and then it works out the same price as the virgin one anyway!

Banned

27th Dec 2008

The LG chocolate in most shops should only cost you £5 in most shops as well as the LG Shine as both are quite simple and fast unlocks using equipment like Vygis

Original Poster

27th Dec 2008

cheers MobilePhonez

is it illegal to unlock phones? or will almost every shop do this these days?

Banned

27th Dec 2008

It is perfectly legal to unlock phones... It is illegal to unblock phones....

Unblock-----------Once a phone has been reported lost or stolen on a networks, its unique IMEI number is blocked on the network, once you insert a network sim into the phone, it wont work properly on some networks like Orange it wont allow you to get reception or make or send calls and you will get a message like "Sim Card Registration Failed" on others like T-Mobile you get reception but you cant make any calls... Unblocking is to change the unique IMEI number of the handset to another number that is not blocked so that a previously lost or stolen phone can be used on the UK networks.

Changing the IMEI number is illegal and is usually called Unblocking. A lot of phones have very tight security on this and this is usually much harder than unlocking.

Unlocking--------------This is removing the lock the networks place when they subsidise the cost of a handset, a lot of countries do not lock their handsets however their handsets are then more expensive than in the UK...Unlocking means to remove the sim lock that the phone has to allow you to use another sim card in the handset, as long as you legally own the handset the networks themselves will unlock the phone for you, however they will usually charge...

The problem however with network unlocking is sometimes it doesnt work, i.e they provide you with a unique code for your handset which will only unlock your handset, you only have a few attempts usually to unlock with this method, e.g new Nokia's 3 attempts... If the code is wrong or entered wrong then you cant always unlock using this method.

Most shops also provide unlocking services, however these are not through codes as most the phone code systems are not public. Prices depend on how long the unlocking takes, how expensive the equipment used is and also how much each unlock costs... There are several types of professional unlocking equipment available for different makes e.g

Nokia BB5 phones - Jaf, MtBox, Noox Box, etcSamsung - NSPro, USTetc

As an example good equipment like NsPro usually costs less than £150 it is updated regularly and it usually does all the Samsungs (eventually) so you might find unlocking prices for most of the Samsungs are usually cheaper... however other equipment like MtBox costs over £400 for the full set, only does a few phones and you have to keep paying for updates to do more phones and then it stops support and you have to invest in new equipment for the next gen phones

Vygis for LG phones, I think was £180 when we bought it, it does do most of the LG handsets, and the unlocking of the phones you mentioned is pretty straight forward, its just plug in using the correct cable, click connect and click unlock, so most shops should be able to do that for you for about £5

Anyway sorry for the long explanation just wanted to explain the price differences of different phones, unlocking is legal and most shops will be able to do it for you, shops like CPW and Phones4U will not and they will either refer you to the network or send you to a friends shop that they know...

Original Poster

29th Dec 2009

thanks for all the help

just thought id let everyone know that i bought the phone for £24.47 from CPW + £10 orange credit.......

put my virgin sim card in and it worked straight away!!!!!

just a note that you must pay by credit card, instore, or it works out £10 more expensive if you pay by cash?! (cant think why but thats what the lady told me)

so no need to unlock and i dont see how they can justify charging £50 for a LG CHOCOLATE on virgin when you can buy one for £35 on orange and it still works on virgin?!....oh well im not complaining!

now all i need is a few wallpapers and ringtones, anybody know where you can get wallpapers for free? (im after a liverpool logo, of course lol)

again thanks for all the help and replies.

29th Dec 2009

steven gerrard;3888045

thanks for all the helpjust thought id let everyone know that i bought … thanks for all the helpjust thought id let everyone know that i bought the phone for £24.47 from CPW + £10 orange credit.......put my virgin sim card in and it worked straight away!!!!!just a note that you must pay by credit card, instore, or it works out £10 more expensive if you pay by cash?! (cant think why but thats what the lady told me)so no need to unlock and i dont see how they can justify charging £50 for a LG CHOCOLATE on virgin when you can buy one for £35 on orange and it still works on virgin?!....oh well im not complaining!now all i need is a few wallpapers and ringtones, anybody know where you can get wallpapers for free? (im after a liverpool logo, of course lol)again thanks for all the help and replies.

ALL the phones in carphone warehouse stores are sim free,none are locked to the network,so no matter which network you prefer best option is just to buy the cheapest one as it will work with your sim card anyhow,

They insist you top up double the amount when not using a credit card to try and cut down on people buying multiple handsets to re-sell on. If they have your credit card number they can control how many phones their system will accept from your card. If you pay cash its not so easy for them to keep track of

30th Dec 2009

That's a bit misleading, all the phones I've bought have been unlocked - Including this LG Chocolate. However, my girlfriend a few years back bought a V3 and the box had the o2 logo on it and it was locked to o2, I know as I looked at the box the other day. Since then a friend of mine has bought a few phones - all of which have been network locked. You are best to buy the cheapest available and if it isn't unlocked, getting it unlocked makes the price the same.